3 Best Exercises for Chest Mass

A massive, dense, muscular chest is right up there on the list of most body builders, both pro}} and amateur. Unfortunately, there is so much bad information out there when it comes to properly working the pectorals}} that chests like I just described are becoming rare these days.

The first key to building the pecs you want is to select movements that maximally stimulate the chest muscle fibres. The first movement that springs to mind for most lifters when they think of pectoral exercises is the bench press. But the bench press is not a great chest builder unless you happen to have the optimal leverage for it. On top of that, most people perform the bench press incorrectly. If you are combining poor leverages and poor technique it's no wonder you feel the bench more in your front deltoids and triceps than in your pecs!

I am going to show you 3 of the best chest exercises. It is important to keep in mind that if these are done with poor technique you are short-changing your muscle gains and may be setting yourself up for injury. To prevent this from happening make sure to get some technique tips from an expert so that you can build the pecs you want without getting injured.

Paused BB Bench Press
I realize I just got finished saying that the barbell bench press is not the best chest building exercise, but there are particular variations that work the pecs well, assuming you perform them correctly. The paused BB bench press is one possible variation. By pausing the bar on the chest for one to five seconds before pressing it back up you kill the stretch reflex and lose any stored elastic energy you created during the eccentric. This makes pressing the weight back up much harder, but it will also force your pecs to create a huge amount of force in order to explode the bar from your chest back to lockout.

Incline Dumbbell Bench Pressr
One of the most common complaints of body builders is not just their overall chest mass, but their upper chest mass especially. Incline presses are a great solution to this because they emphasize the upper portion of the chest, which gives the appearance of a more full chest, without giving you droopy pecs. The use of dumbbells is a good addition here as they allow for a deeper stretch in the bottom of the movement. This deep stretch activates a lot of underused motor units in the upper chest which can jump start new growth to occur.

Standing High-to-Low Cable Crossoversr
Even though variations of the bench press are good, to really focus on the chest you need to work on the flying motion. This can be done with many different exercises, but I really prefer the cable crossover here because of the consistent tension the cable gives you during the complete exercise. The key is to concentrate on getting a good stretch at the beginning and keeping tension on the chest during the entire movement. This is a great finishing movement to any chest workout.
Remember that while these exercises are fantastic for building powerful pecs, they must be done with the proper technique in order to get the most from them.